Get to know us.

Murugappa Group

Murugappa Group is amongst India’s most enduring and admired corporate houses. Headquartered in Chennai, the Group is a market leader in several segments including Abrasives, Auto Components, Transmission systems, Cycles, Sugar, Farm Inputs, Fertilisers, Plantations, Bio-products and Nutraceuticals. The Group has forged strong alliances with leading international companies such as Groupe Chimique Tunisien, Foskor, Mitsui Sumitomo, Morgan Advanced Materials, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM), Yanmar & Co. and Compagnie Des Phosphat De Gafsa (CPG).

It has a wide geographical presence all over India as well as across six continents. The Group fosters an environment of professionalism and has a workforce of over 32,000 employees. The story of the Murugappa Group is a legacy of entrepreneurship that started in 1934 and lives on to this day. The Group has drawn from its heritage and carried out organisational and entrepreneurial changes with transparency. It was also one of the first to successfully transition from a family-managed group to a professionally managed corporate house.

This was the basic principle laid out by our founder – A. M. Murugappa Chettiar, over a century ago and the tradition has endured. Today, this belief continues to guide our decisions and define our work ethics.

Values & Beliefs

The Spirit of the Murugappa Group is inspired by a set of enduring values and beliefs called the ‘Five Lights’, a guide to everyday excellence. It clearly defines a way of life, and is demonstrated by these strong values we live by: Integrity, Passion, Quality, Respect and Responsibility.

Parry Agro Industries Limited

Parry Agro, one of the leading producers of CTC, Orthodox, Organic and Green teas, in India, is a part of the Murugappa Group, which is among the most respected business conglomerates in India.

Estates in the best tea-growing regions in India

In a country that is the second largest tea-growing region in the world, Parry Agro has estates across the best tea regions in India. In South India, our estates are spread across Sheikalmudi, Murugalli, Paralai and Iyerpadi, in the Anamallai Hills; Attikunna and Carolyn, in the Nilgiris–Wayanad region; and in Assam, at Deckiajuli and Sirajuli, along the banks of the river Brahmaputra. These estates produce some of the finest Indian teas.

Spread over 3,210 hectares, the tea estates and factories at Parry Agro produce around 14 million kilograms annually. Over the last five decades, the brand’s reputation and respectability, as one of the premier tea growers has been well established across the globe.

Our heritage

“Like many old businesses, this company too, has a history of colonial ownership. Originally held by the Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited (CWS) of the UK, subsequently the Indian operations of this company were managed by the Murugappa Group which bought out the investments of CWS in India by 1992.

Pioneers in Organic Tea Cultivation

Our Iyerpadi Organic teas are considered best-sellers in the international market.

We are one of the pioneers in organic tea cultivation, and are known for our sustainable cultivation techniques. With clearly segregated buffer zones and zero-tolerance for anything in organic, we use bionutrients and repellents, and practice natural pest-control methods.

Paralai Estate and Iyerpadi Factory have been certified organic by IMO, NOP (Organic Standards of USA) and NPOP (Organic Standards of India).

Conventional Teas

Conventional cultivation in our estates adheres to the Plant Protection Code (PPC) laid down by the Tea Board of India, which focuses on developing a sustainable tea code that is based on Indian realities and globally accepted sustainability principles. On the basis of our social, economic, agronomic and environmental performance our tea plantations in South India are Trustea-certified. The Trustea code covers all aspects of tea production and manufacturing.

Quality Certifications

The reputation and respect we enjoy stem from the fact that we, at Parry Agro, are committed to quality. Strict adherence to quality protocol is the cornerstone of our business. Our focus on quality is evident from a portfolio of prestigious national and international certifications that we have earned over the years.

The certifications that our estates and factories have received from Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade and ISO 14001 showcase our continued commitment to quality and sustainability as well as our good people practices.

The Iyerpadi factory is ISO 14001, ISO 22000 and is FA (Fairtrade) Certified. In addition, six of Parry Agro’s tea factories, viz. Mayura, Paralai, Attikunna, Carolyn, Deckiajuli and Sirajuli are ISO 9001:2008 certified, reflecting Parry Agro’s tradition of a forward-looking approach. Mayura one of the first CTC tea factories in India thus certified,is also one of the first to have micro-processor based control and monitoring systems.

Products

Being a responsible organization, we make regular checks to ensure that our products are safe and in compliance with all MRL levels, as prescribed and updated by the prevalent FSSAI and International standards. Our estates adhere to PPC norms prescribed by the Tea Board of India and FSSAI.

We also ensure that our packing and other material that come in contact with the product comply with the prescribed food grade standards. We follow the best hygiene practices in the industry to avoid any kind of contamination and have strong systems and the best machinery to prevent any metal and foreign body contamination of our products. Indeed, all products that pass our factory are released only after being subject to robust quality control systems , which guarantee that our customers enjoy products that are safe in all aspects.

Spearheading Research

The rigorous scientific protocol used in our estates and factories has been developed in our Research & Development Centre (R & D) at Murugalli Estate. This centre is certified by NABL and recognised by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).

Established more than a decade ago, the in-house R&D Centre has been conducting extensive research in two major areas, both in field and in factory. The field research, which is largely in organic methodologies, includes organic pest control, disease management and non-chemical, biological pest-control methods. The research at the factories revolve around the constant improvement in the quality of tea, at every stage of manufacturing.

The R&D Centre also conducts analytical soil testing and agro-chemical analysis. It is the final Quality Analysis gatekeeper to ensure that we meet the stringent parameters laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Audits

While regular audits of the systems are carried out by our management teams and cross functional teams from within the organisation, we also subject ourselves to third-partyaudits by reputed organisations.